The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1887-05-26
FRUIT ORCHARDS.
Delivered before the High Point Farmers
Institute, April, 1887.
BY J. VAN LINDLEY.

Mr.. President, ladies and gentlemen of
the Raleigh Farmers Institute:
+ Plow deep, drain and manure we'll
is our motto, if we wish to find gold.
That is true saying. Keep your or
chards in thrifty condition, properly
pruned and you will have long lived
trees and plenty of fruit. Where to
plant a peach orchard and all other
early blooming fruits is best learned
by observing what orchards bear often
in your neighborhood and note the
elevation and situation. Late years
the common opinion is that peach trees
are short lived What, started such
an opinion d? Are the trees planted in
thin land and allowed to bear heavy
crops and nothing added to keep up
the ground In to 10 years they
begin to die out, the cause is they
simply starve to death. Keep feed to
your peach trees sufficient to keep
them in thrifty condition and you
will have long lived trees.
The best paying market kinds &C
c4rding to my observation for the past
fdw years are the June, July and Oc-
tdber varieties. The August and Sep
tember kinds are best suited to can
ming and drying.
1t is not so particular where you
plant an apple orchard and other late
blooming fruits as they rarely get
Ykilled by late -frosts, but further
Northern States for winter apples
November and February are the best
! months for planting but trees can be
successfully planted any time during
the winter or from November lst, to
April lst, provided the frost is out of
the ground and it is not too wet. March
is good time, but February is better.
How to plant tree is the most import
ant question, and thousands of trees
are lost and allowed to die annually
for the want of knowledge on this
point If the ground is properly sub
soiled, small hole is sufficient Run
off the rows with a two horse
plow and then check it with the same
will often be sufficiently deep to plant
tree if the cross is we'll cleaned out.
Many trees are planted too deep. If
the ground is Of high and dry ma
ture plant not more than two inches
deeper than the tree grew in the nur-
sery. If the land is wet or of a wet
nature the tree should be planted very
shallow and earth raised around about
the tree. If the holes are to be dug
which is generally the best, dig them
two feet square and eighteen inches
deep, then fill up the proper depth
with the best top soil before plantation.
Never put stable manure about the
roots of a tree while planting, it is
good to mulch with after planting.
Take up the tree in the left hand and
the knife in the right, let the top hang
down and trim off bruised and broken
roots, cutting them from the under
side which will cause them to heal up
better-than if trained from the top
sides if they have been damaged by
freezing or any other cause, if by
freezing they will look black and you
should keep cutting them off till they
appear fresh and sound, every root
that is not fresh and sound must come
off or they will die. [ have often
seen trees planted when all the roots
were cut away but the main stem on
account Of being damaged and it look
ed more like walking stick than a
fruit tree and in nearly every instance
they throw out new roots and grow off
finely, when if the damaged roots had
not been removed they would have
died certain.
The Magnolia Grandiflora dies worse
than any other tree and yet if proper
ly managed it is easy to make live.
Apply the knife to the roots until
every bruised or damaged one is cut
away. If the leaves begin to look dry
cut them off and wait for sometime
and if the tree looks shriveled cut off |
all the branches and shorten back the |
top, if necessary cut it back to the
ground, it will only grow up that
much stronger and more beautiful. |
Cuttino back fruit trees when first |